


family

by connabeth



Series: Something Permanent [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Cheesy, F/M, Fluff, after a decade of reading fanfic i have decided to write it cause quarantine, soft percabeth, this is my first fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24218806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connabeth/pseuds/connabeth
Summary: Annabeth may not have been given the family she was promised, but she still found her something permanent among the Jackson/Blofises.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: Something Permanent [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748083
Comments: 20
Kudos: 196
Collections: favorite on PJO





	family

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments! This is my first time writing for the fandom (I figured with the resurgence now was a good time to post as any), so any pointers/suggestions are appreciated! If y'all like it, I'll post more parts soon. Thanks for reading!

Annabeth had just finished instructing rock climbing at the lava wall for a bunch of young Apollo campers. Why the task fell on her, she had no idea. She already had enough on her plate trying to get her and Percy through their senior year so they could go to New Rome together in the fall, designing buildings and overseeing construction at camp, and leading her siblings through their days as head counselor.

She and Percy were spending some time at camp over spring break since they had been too swamped to visit for long since the winter. Annabeth wished Chiron would give her a break for once. In reality, she knew no one, not even Chiron, could make her do anything, but she wasn’t one to neglect her camp duties, even if they were tiring.

She sighed and trudged to her cabin, exhausted to the bone. All she wanted right now was a hot shower and a fresh change of clothes…and maybe some quality time by the beach with Percy before dinner.

She stepped into her cabin to get some clothes before heading to the showers and found Malcolm hovering over bunk looking conflicted.

Her eyebrows pulled together. She didn’t like it when anybody touched her stuff, even Malcolm. At this point everyone that knew her knew better than to go near her things, especially Percy. 

She crossed her arms and frowned, “What’s up?”

“Uhh...your phone kept going off like every two minutes,” he replied, shrugging. “I wasn’t sure if I should pick it up or not? I mean, they’ll probably call again in a minute or two anyway…” he trailed off, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Her face pulled into a deeper frown as she stiffened, suddenly on high-alert. Her phone was only used for emergencies and anyone that had her number knew that. As far as she knew, no one was facing impending doom at the moment so she was confused as to why they’d call her during the middle of a camp day.

She plucked her phone from her nightstand, leaning over Malcolm, just as the screen lit up and it went off again. 

Sally Jackson, the screen read. Sally didn’t typically call her cell, resorting to IM once she got the hang of it. Her heart rate picked up and she pressed accept and held the phone to her ear.

“Sally? Is everything ok? How’s it going?” she crossed one arm under her chest and let her other elbow rest on it. Malcolm took this as his cue to leave as he awkwardly shuffled out of the cabin, nearly tripping over some blueprints haphazardly strewn across the floor.

“Hi Annabeth, it’s Paul here, actually. Sally’s water broke a little while ago and her contractions are 4-5 minutes apart so we’re heading to the hospital now.” He sounded calmer than she expected, considering Sally was a little earlier than expected. She and Percy had planned to be home around her delivery window, but she supposed it wasn’t a surprise things weren’t going to go according to plan, as anything in her life rarely did. “If you guys are busy right now, don’t worry about it, you can visit after once our girl’s born. But if you’re free I think some extra support would help her right now.” 

She thought she vaguely heard some muffled groaning in the background. Her heart squeezed. Obviously, she knew labor was beyond excruciating, but she still didn’t like hearing the woman in pain. The thought of her having to go through that someday herself made her stomach flip-flop, although she’d experienced a shit ton more pain than the average person already. The visuals she’d seen in one of Sally’s pregnancy books made her really, really glad this chapter of her life was still years in the future.

Her thoughts returned to the situation at hand. She scoffed. “Are you kidding? Of course we’ll come. By the time I find Percy, pack some of our stuff, and get Argus to drive us into the city, it’ll be around another one and a half hours. Is that ok?”

“Yeah, of course! Thanks, Annabeth. Let me know when you get to the hospital and I’ll come get you guys from the lobby.”

“Sounds good. Tell Sally she’s a badass and she’s got this. I’ll see you guys soon.”

She ended the call and quickly gathered some essentials like her dagger, laptop, clothes, and ambrosia into her little backpack, figuring they were probably going to spend the next few nights at Percy’s. She was about to head out of her cabin when she stilled, remembering she forgot something.

Scurrying back into her cabin, she opened the trunk tucked underneath her bed and pulled out the teddy bear that was stuffed in there. She’d had this bear since she was 7, something Luke and Thalia had gotten her when they were on the run to help her sleep better at night with all the nightmares. She’d slept with it by her side for years, occasionally cradling it the nights she missed Thalia more so than usual. She hadn’t really used it in a while as she’d grown out of it, but she was unwilling to throw it away because it still held a special place in her heart. The bear made her a little nostalgic and sad, but it also served as a protective charm. When she was younger, she’d imagined Thalia was looking down from above and keeping her safe when she slept.

Annabeth gently tucked the bear into her backpack and rushed out the cabin to find Percy and tell Chiron they needed to leave immediately. She rushed past some campers as she made her way across the grass, nearly. body-checking one. She swerved to the right at the last second and stopped briefly.

“Miranda! Hi, sorry, do you have any idea where Percy is right now?” She usually knew Percy’s schedule like the back of her hand, but he didn’t really care about being where he was supposed to anymore. He often found himself sneaking off somewhere with her or plotting some prank with his Hermes cabin friends. Plus, her mind was a little clouded at the moment to remember given the surprise of the situation.

Miranda paused, thinking. “I think he’s training in the arena right now. Or he was like half an hour ago.”

Nodding and smiling in thanks, Annabeth jogged past her and headed to the arena. She found Percy leading a sword fighting lesson to a group of young campers, demonstrating a basic disarming move with Connor Stoll. She smiled inwardly at the sight of him, all tousled black hair and sparkling sea-green eyes and glowing tan and charming smile. She stood there for a moment, taking in the way he interacted with kids, and her heart swelled with warmth. She decided not to dwell on those feelings right now.

He paused in his instruction as he caught her eye, surprised to see her here. She jerked her to the side, silently asking him to follow her. His eyebrows pulled up as he whispered something into Connor’s ear and jogged towards her.

A knowing smirk pulled across Connor’s troublemaker features and he let out a little wolf-whistle, much to Annabeth’s chagrin. The little bastard probably thought she was stealing Percy in the middle of sword fighting lessons for some ~alone time~, which was definitely not the case. And, ok, so maayyybbeee that had happened before, but sue her. Her boyfriend was one tall drink of water and she’d be damned if she didn’t take advantage of that fact every once in a while. And it’s not like he hadn’t pulled her away from training and into the lake on more than one occasion.

He gave her that annoyingly sexy troublemaker smirk she’d come to love as he innocently asked, “Miss me, Wise Girl?” He wrapped his arms around her, placing his hands on her lower back not too far from her ass, as he pressed a purposeful kiss to the corner of her mouth. Ok, so he was in that kind of mood. 

Not wanting to indulge her dirty thoughts, Annabeth hurriedly explained that Sally was in labor and they needed to leave camp and get to the hospital soon. He dropped his hands, embarrassed, and his eyebrows pulled up once again.

“Labor? Now? I-is she gonna be okay? She’s a few days early. Is that bad?” he asked, visibly nervous. 

She sighed. “Sally’s ok for now. Hopefully everything will be fine. I packed some of my stuff. I’ll go tell Chiron we have to leave and get Argus ready while you go to your cabin and pack some of your stuff, ok?”

He nodded obediently and he parted ways with her with a kiss on the cheek as they got back to the cabins. She headed up to the Big House to let Chiron know and arranged for Argus to meet them by Half Blood Hill so they could leave. Percy came running out of his cabin a few minutes later, and they climbed into Argus’s van, hand-in-hand.

Percy seemed uncharacteristically nervous and jumpy on the ride there, probably at the prospect of being a big brother within the next several hours. She knew he wanted to be a good role model for his little sister and didn’t want to screw anything up for her sake, although there wasn’t much he could do to prove himself besides hold her without dropping her during her first months as an infant. She locked her gaze in his and reached over and squeezed his hand, a gentle smile adorning her face, trying to reassure him. He shot her a grateful smile and immediately some of the tension left his body. She loved that they had that effect on each other. His posture relaxed and he let his head fall into her lap for the rest of the car ride, as she absentmindedly carded her finger through his shaggy locks. Gods, did she love his hair.

As Argus drove through the city, she found herself wondering what kind of relationship she’d have with Percy’s baby sister. Percy’s family was her family too, for all intents and purposes. Sally had always loved Annabeth even before she’d ever met the girl, making her judgments based on the way her son unknowingly rambled on about his friend as he recounted his first summer at camp. During the months Percy was missing, she and Sally had grown closer than ever, seeking solace in each other. Sally was her only tangible connection to Percy and vice versa. Sally always welcomed Annabeth into their home and treated her like her own daughter. 

She also wanted to be somebody the newest addition to the Jackson/Blofis family could look up to. Annabeth was understandably and deservingly a role model for several campers, not just to her own siblings who she looked after as head counselor, but also many other demigods who were inspired by her impressive, lethal skills on the battlefield, her role as the resident architect, and her unofficial title of camp leader.

It was a little different with Percy’s little sister, as she wasn’t a part of the demigod world. She wouldn’t know about that aspect of Annabeth's life for a while, probably, so the older girl had to prove herself in other ways. Annabeth wanted to make a good impression on the child for who she was as a person and not just her accomplishments as a demigod. 

Eventually, they piled into the hospital, and Paul took them right outside Sally’s room.

“Umm...I’m not sure if you’d want to go in there right now. She’s almost there, thank god it was a quick labor, but unless you want to see some gruesome stuff, I’d suggest waiting for a little bit outside,” Paul said, mostly addressing Percy, as the boy had been the more squeamish one when it came to pregnancy stuff.

With that, Paul disappeared behind the door, striding back over to Sally’s side as she gripped his fingers tightly, her face pale and sweaty with exertion. The teenagers stepped into the room for some time to offer some words of encouragement and left after fifteen minutes, not wanting to crowd the space too much. Besides, Sally seemed too distracted with giving birth to notice, anyway.

Percy paced in the hall for a little while, Annabeth at his side, before he suddenly decided, “I’m hungry. I’m gonna go get something to eat from the vending machine. You want anything?”

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, knowing all too well about his stress-eating habits. “I’ll just share with you.” She knew he was trying to distract himself, but she let him go because they had to skip out on lunch as honestly, she was pretty hungry. He disappeared down the hallway with a quick kiss to her forehead.

She sighed, alone with her thoughts for a moment. Before she could even begin to organize the jumble in her brain, Paul called out, “Annabeth, Percy. You might want to come in now.” So Sally had had a very quick labor, apparently. She suspected Artemis might have had something to do with it, considering Percy was one of the only men she could tolerate and she respected strong women such as Sally.

Immediately, she pushed herself off the wall and walked into the room excitedly. Her breath caught. There she was. A little bundle of red-faced, crying joy. She looked so small and precious Annabeth was afraid even the most harmless thing could be a threat to her well-being. She was nestled into Sally’s arms, whose face was streaked with happy tears and matted with dark, sweaty strands of brown hair. She and Paul smiled down adoringly at the child, cooing and shedding tears.

It was the most wholesome, adorable thing Annabeth had seen in a while, and her heart clenched in happiness for the brave woman in front of her. Sally had dealt with a lot of tough shit in her life, from an abusive ex-husband to a missing son, and she deserved every bit of happiness that came her way and more. She reached over and gently hugged the couple, careful not to squish the baby, and they squeezed her back.

She suddenly remembered what she had brought with her, and reached into her backpack to grab it. As she brought out the teddy bear, she said, a little nervous, “Umm...I know that she can’t use this until she’s older but I wanted to give this to you guys anyway. I feel like it kept me safe when I was younger, when I was on the run, and even at camp. It’s a reminder of the family I once had and...I-I guess I wanted to give it to my new family.”

Sally’s eyes sparkled, still glistening with tears as she craned her neck up to softly kiss Annabeth’s forehead. “Thank you so much, sweetheart. I already know it’s going to be her favorite toy.”

After Paul and Sally had both held the baby, Sally asked, “Sweetheart, would you like to hold her?” Her heart skipped a beat, Yes, of course she wanted to. But she was terrified of doing something wrong. Sure, she was used to dealing with little campers, but a newborn baby was a whole new league. They were so delicate. Sensing her nervousness, Sally spoke again, “It’s okay, honey. There’s nothing to be nervous about. All you gotta do is hold her like this. It’s time my daughters met.”

And, okay. Annabeth’s heart may as well have exploded at that comment. She felt a rush of love and gratitude for the woman in front of her, for always making her feel like she had a home among the Jacksons and for being a pillar of support during the most difficult months of her life. She hesitantly reached out her arms, and Sally gently placed the tiny little girl in her embrace. Annabeth cradled the baby in her arms, her arms completely still and she stared down at the cute little pink face in wonder. A pair of bright blue eyes stared right back with the same look of wonder and curiosity on her face. Annabeth let out a strangled laugh and her face morphed into a delicate smile. Peeling her eyes off the baby, she asked, “What’s her name, by the way? Did you guys finally settle on one?”

Sally and Paul shared a knowing glance and Sally said “Estelle.”

It was cute, unique, and elegant. Annabeth loved it.

___

Percy was making his way back to the hospital room after making a quick stop at the vending machine, clutching a pack of Cool Ranch Doritos to share with Annabeth in his fist. As he arrived back to the hallway, he didn’t see Annabeth standing outside like he expected. As he neared the room, he heard a faint whining, and his eyes widened in realization. Of course his baby sister had decided to pop out when he went to go get his fucking Doritos. Shoving the chip bag into his pocket, he pushed the door to the room open and froze at the sight.

His mom lay on the stretcher, looking worn-out, face shining with moisture, but had a blissful smile on her lips. Paul stood right by her protectively, hand on her shoulders, fingers stroking her hair back from her face.

But that’s not what caught his attention. Standing at his mother’s bedside was his girlfriend, looking down into her arms with a rare smile, a gentle curve to her lips. Her beautiful blonde curls were falling into her face a little, her ponytail coming undone. His heart skipped a beat. She was the most beautiful thing he’d seen, with a tender smile upon her face and she cradled his new baby sister. Her face radiated a soft, ethereal glow, despite being under the harsh white emergency room lights. She leaned down to press a feather-light kiss to the newborn’s forehead. His heart grew three sizes and he suppressed the urge to pepper both their faces with kisses.

He took a mental snapshot of the moment and tucked away the memory to look back at in the future. His gaze landed on his tiny, adorable little sister as she stared up at Annabeth in amazement in between her bouts of fussing, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. All he could think about was Annabeth holding their own baby like that a few years down the line after college. Holy fuck, he thought to himself. I am one lucky bastard. He still had no idea how he’d managed to get someone like Annabeth to like him, but he wasn’t complaining. As long as she was by his side, he knew he had a promising future ahead of him. For all the rotten luck that had been thrown his way in life, meeting and loving Annabeth easily made up for it. A grin made its way onto his face as he stared and the two of them and hesitantly stepped forward. Annabeth turned to him and their eyes locked, as though they were thinking the same thing. They shared a secret smile and she offered to hand him the baby.

“Do you wanna hold Estelle, Seaweed Brain?” Catching the apprehensive, yet longing look on his face, she assured him, “Trust me, it’s not as scary as it seems.”

Percy hesitantly reaches his arms out a little, as his girlfriend carefully maneuvered handing little Estelle over to him. He smiled. Estelle. He liked it. He was unsure of himself and downright terrified of fucking something up, but he managed to keep his cool for the sake of his sister. Her warm blue eyes gazed upon his face like they did Annabeth’s and he just held the little bundle in his arms for a few minutes, careful to maintain the correct hand placements, just soaking it all in.

He never thought he’d get another sibling, Well, okay, obviously he had many siblings of the immortal and monster variety on his father’s side, but a mortal sister? He never thought it would ever happen, considering he grew up an only child for over 17 years. It was odd, having a sibling all of a sudden, but he loved the way Estelle felt in his arms. He knew immediately that he was going to protect her and be there for her as long as he was alive.

Eventually, when Estelle began to wail again (it was only a matter of time), he reluctantly handed her back to his mother and pulled Annabeth into his arms, pressing a firm kiss or two into her hair, as her body sagged from the emotion of it all, leaning back into his warmth.

His mother was looking at him, Annabeth, and Estelle with a look of adoration on her face. “My three babies,” she murmured softly looking between them, a satisfied and sleepy smile overtaking her features. Percy pressed his smile into the crook of Annabeth’s neck as she blushed bashfully. They stayed there for a little while, basking in the silence, save Estelle’s occasional cries and Sally muttering sweet nothings to calm her down, huddled together as one family.


End file.
